[MontyB1]

So we have our first PHEV and after a drive it's great. But it might be useful to have a thread that everyone can ask questions in.

So I'm going to go first, what does everyone do for charging their iX1/PHEV. I know if often recommends only charging to 80% and not 100% but with the charging profiles the cars can use is it really necessary to limit the charging? At the moment we are just charging via the Plug socket AC so it could take 7+hrs but as she doesn't use all the charge most days and isn't in a hurry presume that is better for the battery and let it charge later in the evening after she has finished driving it??

Also why do I need to set a departure time in the app if I'm not going pre-condition the car for departure at the moment? Seems odd that it doesn't want to let me charge without setting the departure time but I can put in a charging window...?

[Tunners]

Have you got the charging set to charge immediately in the app? If not go into edit and set it to charge immediately.
As for the charging to 80% if you are going to be charging on a regular basis ie 4 or 5 times a week then it is better to not fully charge every time so long as you have enough to do what you need to do, obviously for the longer runs and occasional charging 100% is fine.

[MontyB1]

I've got it to change at 10.30 at night and into the early morning. But interestingly as the car was down to 7% it started to instantly change anyway. It seemed to say charge was below 12% as if that was a minimum it would charge to anyway.

From memory the reason it's not good to charge a battery that has just been in use driving home can put more stress into it. By charging it after it's cooled if you like this mitigates some of that stress. I've ended up setting it to 90% in the app, looking at the iX3 forum very few are finding more degradation at all on a full 100% charge over 3+ years.

[Tunners]

As I understand it the battery needs to be warm to charge efficiently, seemingly the first few kWh are used to pre heat the battery when cold.
Re the degradation it’s like a phone battery you are better not letting it run all the way down then charge to 100% on a regular basis.
Take a look at the chat section on Zap Map there are some knowledgable people on there that have been driving ev’s for years.

[robe033]

I have a Pod point wall charger
Set iX1 to charge to 80%
Set Pod point to start charging at 22:30
Charged yesterday afternoon for first time - just to make sure everything works.
Thankfully it did as I am taking car to dealer today

[MontyB1]

Because the 25e battery is smaller and it charges way way slower especially via AC (7.5hrs for 56miles!!) its not being rammed to damage it as much was the thinking.

We have set it to 90% for now otherwise the car doesn't provide the return and efficiency for the daily use case on occasions which somewhat defeats the object of getting the PHEV we did.

[Tunners]

Agree about the slower charging being less harmful to the battery it’s the rapid charging that degrades the battery quicker but obviously with a full fat EV the battery is a lot bigger so the effect on them degrading a small percentage wouldn’t be as noticeable. At the end of the day you’ve bought the car to do a job and if that requires a 100% charge then that’s the way to go.

[MontyB1]

One thing to note for those with a PHEV, when you charge it later on anything powered inside the car switches on as well. Our dashcam switches on as the car charges. Seems to be because the car uses a dc converter to charge the engines 12v battery at the same time it charges the higher voltage battery.

Just mentioning in case anyone notices the same.

[srbs73]

We've set the iX1 to charge to 80% and typically don't drop below 20%. There's been a couple of times we've needed the full range and charged to 100% but given we're only leasing the car for 3 years, we're probably looking after the battery for the next owner!!

[MontyB1]

With the PHEV battery being so much smaller and many people seem to say that it's actually larger / can tame more than it states we are going to leave it charging to 90%. Fits most use cases that it will use the battery for and not the ICE.

The charge is sooooo slow I bet the battery is properly chillaxed compared the super strong charge that the iX1 / IX of the worlds can take. We were going to get a fast charger fitted at home but as the car doesn't get that much faster, still takes 2.5hrs vs 7.5hrs we are rarely if ever needing the car to charge quickly we are going to leave it and have bought the bracket to fix things to the wall.

[Pganders]

Having just moved from an Audi Q5 PHEV which didn’t give you the option to charge only to 80% (it was 100% or nothing) I was surprised that the X1 had this option. However with the increased mileage available (56 against 38 official) I have so far been charging to 80% which has given me 42 miles and sufficient for all my journeys so far.

I have an Andersen wall charger and as an experiment I charged to 100% one night and it took 69 minutes to top up the battery with 6.6kwh against 72 minutes for 8.3kwh to 80%. This equates to 10.9 minutes/kwh against 8.7 minutes/kwh. So yes that last 20% does appear slower.

As an aside after charging to 100% I did a 40 mile round trip (mix of motorway and stop start driving) and when I got home the car was still showing 15 miles electric available and no petrol used.

[prp7]

Just jealous here in the US. If we have a X 1 PHEV, I would have bought it yesterday.

[Bogdan_CH]

Planing to order a 30 PHEV next week. Just want to make sure I got it right, you can set the level where you want the car to be charged ? Let's say 80 or 90% ? For short drivers , getting the car at 80% in the morning seems decent but if can alter this through settings would be amazing as 90% basically give almost everything out and still leaves a margin . Being a PHEV not sure if worth always charging it to 100% as in any case you have the ICE engine to add to that.

[tareknet89]

Originally Posted by Bogdan_CH

Planing to order a 30 PHEV next week. Just want to make sure I got it right, you can set the level where you want the car to be charged ? Let's say 80 or 90% ? For short drivers , getting the car at 80% in the morning seems decent but if can alter this through settings would be amazing as 90% basically give almost everything out and still leaves a margin . Being a PHEV not sure if worth always charging it to 100% as in any case you have the ICE engine to add to that.

Hi, Monty mentioned above that this can be set this in the app. Good luck with the order!

[MontyB1]

Yeah it's easy to set when it will start charging and to what level that you want to charge it too. We go for 90% each day at the moment by default but she had a long journey on Sunday so went for 100% as a one off. However I believe that the batteries on the PHEV go through far less stress than the EV as they are smaller and charge slower. Not to say that you need to be careful with them but there is a wider margin to play with.

Also when you get it you might think why is it charging and I've told it to start at 10.30 in the evening, what we have found is that if the battery is sub 20% it tends not to like that and charges to 12-18% ish so that its not left close to flat probably as a safety point as LiIon type batteries don't like sitting at or close to 0 for long periods.

[Tunners]

Just to add to Monty’s reply I found this video that explains the difference between charging an EV and a PHEV and degredation. If you don’t want to watch it all check it out from about 2 minutes 20 seconds.

[Bogdan_CH]

Thanks for the tips. Makes alot of sense.

One think I haven't seen or missed, while driving if you set it in sport or charge mode, at what rate does it charge the battery?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but it's my 1st hybrid so wondering how it goes on longer routes.

[MontyB1]

There is no charge mode when you are driving around. The car might add a little into the battery and re-gen will also add some but it doesn't I don't believe actively use the engine to charge it back up as such or there is no mode to set it to do that anyway.

[Bogdan_CH]

Thanks for letting me know, then the 2nd dumb question, is what happens on long drives, I've seen a few case where people even after driving a while, there is still juice to use the full 326 bhp. So if the battery goes to zero on the dash (I read it still have some left there for various reasons, something like 20%) where is the extra coming from. I know it's a bit of a max out situation, but just wondering, going sportive for 200 km / miles, if it's barely charging / regenerating , from where is the power still coming from.

Basically if you keep hamering it down on a long rown, will you end up eventually going on ICE or still enjoy it in full ?

[MontyB1]

I think BMW say things like 14kw usable battery and it seems there is more that you can’t normally access. It seems to leave a certain amount so that if you are stuck and need xdrive/we then it’s still there for you. Same for some extra acceleration.

How all that works in practice is another matter. We only went for the 25e as she isn’t one for power and it’s great performance wise for her the 30e another step more.

However at some point you do have an engine mostly pulling around the extra weight of the EV parts of the car that’s unavoidable. The car is best suited to 150miles or less typically anything over that is still good just not it’s sweet spot.

[takmuro66]

Hello from Thailand
!
I have just ordered the 30e last week, having told that BMW Thailand already has a long waiting list. Looks like I might have a MY24 delivered on Jan 2024 instead of a MY23.

Does anyone have any idea what might be the difference between a MY 23 vs 24?

I understand that Thailand has a local assembly factory, which means that the build might not be the same with other regional models. Usually the changes are applied with a delay compared to other regions. Just seeking for a clue of the difference that I might experience with my order.

Also the roads are really freaking-rough in Thailand… appreciated if anyone can share road bump experiences with 25e/30e M Sport models. Would the -20mm be the cause to scratch your vehicle chin or belly?

Really enjoy everybody’s posts while waiting in line… thanks guys for your exciting posts!!

[Pganders]

Originally Posted by takmuro66

Hello from Thailand
!
I have just ordered the 30e last week, having told that BMW Thailand already has a long waiting list. Looks like I might have a MY24 delivered on Jan 2024 instead of a MY23.

Does anyone have any idea what might be the difference between a MY 23 vs 24?

I understand that Thailand has a local assembly factory, which means that the build might not be the same with other regional models. Usually the changes are applied with a delay compared to other regions. Just seeking for a clue of the difference that I might experience with my order.

Also the roads are really freaking-rough in Thailand… appreciated if anyone can share road bump experiences with 25e/30e M Sport models. Would the -20mm be the cause to scratch your vehicle chin or belly?

Really enjoy everybody’s posts while waiting in line… thanks guys for your exciting posts!!

As regards the road experiences, I have a 30e M Sport and find the ride firm but very comfortable. It is far better over rough roads than the previous Audi S line that I had. The ground clearance on the M Soort is still a lot higher than a standard saloon car so I think the road would need to be nearly undriveable to catch the underside?